The Sharks Are Circling - Russia And China Take Aim At The World's Undersea Cable Network

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Russia And China Take Aim At The World's Undersea Cable Network

23 Feb 2023 ~~ By Sam Faddis

We live in a world created in 1945. The United States is the world’s dominant political, economic, and military power. We treat those facts as if they are somehow immutable. They are not. We are standing on the brink of losing it all.
The Biden administration continues to blunder forward with its reckless policy of escalation in Ukraine treating the entire enterprise as if it were a video game of some sort. There are in the minds of these men and women no consequences for their actions. Only the other side takes losses. Only the other side feels pain.
That’s not how war works. That’s not how the world works.
Out there in the shadows, as tensions escalate and the world moves closer to a world war, the sharks are circling. Our enemies are already well down the road to responding to our actions and making us pay a price for our arrogance.
The world’s economy runs on internet communications. Those communications move primarily on a vast network of undersea cables.
~Snip~
On the other side of the world, Moscow’s new Chinese allies are showing the same kind of interest in the undersea cables that run to Taiwan. Two of those cables were recently cut by Chinese vessels. The Chinese appear to be billing the actions as “accidents”. There is a strong suspicion that the actions were a dry run for a much broader attack on communication with Taiwan.
On February 2, 2023, a Chinese fishing vessel sailing close to the Matsu Islands severed one of the two cables, which connect the islands with Taiwan proper. Six days later, a Chinese freighter cut the second cable. The Matsu Islands, which belong to Taiwan, are now left with rudimentary communications.


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Commentary:
Not easy to protect thousands of miles of undersea cable... so what's the decent back up system? Should corporations be made aware of the threat so they can add redundancy to their systems and supply chains?
I for one would enjoy seeing the American corporations have relied heavily on outsourcing work overseas suddenly finding out that Indian technicians in Bangalore cannot maintain their networks and computer systems once the undersea cables are cut. Make no mistake, that day will come even if it doesn’t happen in this war.
Anyone with half a brain senses that something is amiss. I don't know what it is for sure, I'm torn between the points that this administration hates America so much that it has provoked our enemies to the point of coming in for the kill, or they have lived in the shadow of the few great patriotic leaders we have had and think they can do the job but better.
Why are we not aggressively defending this key infrastructure? What the hell are we paying 1 trillion USD a year for (when you roll in all natsec/defense/intel spend, it's that much) if not to have massive protection of everything we care about? What animates our leaders these days? It seems the idea of protecting us is way down the list from foreign interventionism.
Better start lookin at Musk's Star-Link internet access if you need to connect to te outside world wen the STHTF.

 
I don't buy into this story. Sounds more like the usual let's go and make someone look bad on the USA's most wanted list.

Just as for a bridge construction stretching over water - the respective height clearance issues are known and taken into account - or vessels that could pose a danger are simply restricted from passing under it. Same goes for a tunnel.
The respective water depth are know to the countries and companies who install under water - whatever. It is entirely their job and obligation to secure those installations towards all accidental possibilities. It's like a nuclear reactor building company forwarding - we didn't expect a bird to shit on it.

Sabotage such as towards the Nord-stream pipeline can't be out-ruled - no matter how deep it would be constructed. Sooner or later it will also become clear as to who did it.
Same would apply towards sabotage onto an underwater fiber cable that was/is secured towards marine shipping eventualities.
 
Thanks for an interesting OP . Very rare to find here .

Don't you believe that every power reliant on cables and pipes of one sort or another is aware of these concerns and realises their monumental importance ?
The very fact that it rarely surfaces(!) as a public debate topic effectively guarantees that this is the case . Corollary of the Coincidence Theory !

But there are slightly reassuring factors that spring to mind :-
Mutual inter -dependence . A bit like having nuclear weapons -- potential threats act as a mutual deterrent against sabotage and interference .
They spur invention and creativity to improve existing technologies and safety features.
Encourage development of radical solutions . One possibility being that all systems must pass through multi shared control points or abide by mutually controlled protocols .

I find it difficult to believe that anything remotely 100% safe and certain can exist in the foreseeable future but that does not negate that obvious aim as being good and worthwhile .
I suspect satellites will be the medium most used shortly in as many appropriate areas as possible , though that will also introduce new safety and control matters to be concerned about .
And I feel confident that unofficially every reasonable measure is presently being taken to protect assets and communication necessities .But by definition they are classified and not for profitable public discussion .
imho
 

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